Opinion: Four girls under 10 have died recently from FGM, it's time to act

Jessica Neuwirth for CNN

Updated 7:52 AM ET, Thu October 11, 2018

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A former female genital mutilation (FGM) cutter shows a homemade tool from a nail used for FGM.

Jessica Neuwirth is the founder of Donor Direct Action, which supports organizations around the world working to end Female Genital Mutilation and other forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls. She writes for CNN on the International Day of the girl about the plight of Somalian girls who live in the FGM capital of the world. The views expressed in this commentary are solely hers.

(CNN)Four young girls lost their lives recently after undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) in Somalia. They had a lot in common. All four were almost the same age - between 10 and 11 years old. Everyone lived within a 200-mile radius.

They also bled profusely and, a week later, fell into a coma. The girls' mother decided to take them to a medical facility in Galdogob, where they both remained for close to two weeks. Zamzam's condition improved slightly, but her older sister died in late September, having contracted tetanus.

Suheyra's father denied all knowledge of the plan for his daughters to undergo FGM and claimed he was away when it happened. He does not want the law involved and thinks the issue should be "handled" by religious leaders.

Even when girls die from FGM in Somalia families continue to believe it was an "act of God."

It has taken several decades for the reality to seep through that FGM is not a cultural practice, but rather a human rights violation, an extreme subjugation of women and girls -- often leaving them with harmful lifelong medical and psychological consequences, and sometimes even taking their lives through bleeding or infection.

It is clear to those of us who have worked on the issue for years that the recent deaths we have heard about in Somalia and elsewhere are not uncommon, but better reporting and communications have helped ensure that they no longer take place under a cloak of silence.

And yet we still do not have a complete ban on FGM in several countries with higher levels of prevalence - including Somalia. Draft laws have been written - and partially approved - in both Puntland and at the federal level in Mogadishu, but traditional leaders have blocked politicians in getting either of these passed.

After her sister died from it, Hawa Aden Mohamed, the center's Executive Director, committed her life to ensure that this abuse of girls in Somalia is eradicated.

Somali girls at Galkayo Centre in Somalia where girls and their families are taught about dangers of FGM.

We worked directly with Hawa to amplify the recent fatalities in international media including CNN, and genuinely hoped that they would be a shocking wake up call for politicians who would hasten to ensure girls are kept safe.

Although the silence has been broken in Somalia - and it is no longer possible to claim that girls do not die from FGM - we are still waiting for the country's politicians to even investigate these cases, much less prosecute them.

Another central strand of ending FGM is getting funding to groups like The Galkayo Centre, which has been successfully educating girls and their families about its dangers. Many of the girls Hawa works with have unfortunately already been cut, but they are the key to breaking the cycle for future generations. Groups like this are doing so much lifesaving work, with minimal funding.

It pledged £35m, which was largely directed towards the United Nations Joint Programme, a research program mainly focused on secondary research and a communications program, run by a UK-based for-profit management consultancy.

While helpful to the cause, this approach is no substitute for frontline grassroots advocacy.

Today is International Day of the Girl. There seems no better moment to really zone in on ensuring that girls like Deeqa, Aasiyo, Khadijo, and Suheyra are no longer killed from this abhorrent and unnecessary form of violence committed against them.

We hope that Somalia, Sudan, and Sierra Leone all ban FGM outright - but we also need to drastically rethink how the campaign is funded internationally so that we can ensure that those leading efforts to end it finally have the resources they need to do so.